The installation of fuel tanks on vehicles can be a time consuming and man power intensive process on the main vehicle assembly line. Typically, as each vehicle is moved into the fuel tank installation portion of the assembly line, a hanger bracket was bolted to the frame rail and then line personnel physically moved the fuel tank up to the hanger bracket and while holding the tank against the bracket, wrapped tank straps with linking bolts around the tank. Each tank strap was fastened at one end with bolting through the frame rail side member and the other end with bolting to the hanger bracket. This process is cumbersome due to the bulky nature of the fuel tank. Time was required to align the fuel tank so that access points such as the filling point were properly situated. Fuel tank mounted entry/egress steps could only be installed after tank installation on the vehicle.
In vehicle assembly lines there is a certain period of time that a vehicle spends at each station that is referred to as the takt time. Using shorter takt times improves the rate of production of the vehicle assembly line. Fuel tank installation, due to its time consuming nature, is an area of the vehicle assembly line that limit the shortest possible takt time and thus the rate of production of the vehicle assembly line.